Your Right to Know

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama has chosen Thomas Perez, a top Justice Department official,
to be the next secretary of labor, calling him a consensus builder whose "story reminds us of this
country's promise."

The 51-year-old Perez has headed the Justice Department's Civil Rights Divisions since 2009,
playing a leading role in the agency's decision to challenge voter ID laws in Texas and South
Carolina.

He also has broad support from labor and from the Latino community, although he also has
Republican congressional critics who can be expected to oppose his confirmation.

If confirmed, Perez would be one of the highest ranking Hispanics in the government.

With his nomination, Obama now has four Cabinet-level slots to fill -- departments of
Commerce and Transportation, the Small Business Administration and the U.S. Trade Representative.

Before taking the job as assistant attorney general, the 51-year-old Perez was secretary of
Maryland's Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, which enforces state consumer rights,
workplace safety and wage and hour laws.

In choosing Perez, the son of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, Obama is placing an
already high-ranking Hispanic official in a Cabinet slot. Perez, a lawyer with a degree from
Harvard Law School, replaces Hilda Solis, a former California congresswoman and the nation's first
Hispanic labor secretary.

Perez's nomination had been expected for weeks, and comes with vigorous support from labor
unions and Latino groups.

But a newly released report by the Justice Department's inspector general is likely to
provide fodder for Republicans who say the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division has been too
politicized.

The report, released last week, said Perez gave incomplete testimony to the U.S. Commission
on Civil Rights when he said the department's political leadership was not involved in the decision
to dismiss three of the four defendants in a lawsuit the Bush administration brought against the
New Black Panther Party.

The report also concluded that Perez did not intentionally mislead the commission and that
the department acted properly.

Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa said Perez appeared to be "woefully unprepared to
answer questions" from the Civil Rights Commission.

Lynn Rhinehart, general counsel at the AFL-CIO, said the report shows that Perez, who was
first hired by the civil rights division as a career attorney under President George H.W. Bush,
restored integrity to the voting rights program at the Justice Department.